Dubai leaves an impression on almost everyone I meet who has been there. People talk of great skyscrapers, the World development, of wonderful shopping and 7 star hotels. Money, money, money (for a small part of the population at least)
I have to admit it is not one of my favourite destinations. I enjoyed seeing the famous developments, and crossing the creek on an abra. Meeting up with our friends who were working out there was fun too.
But the impression I left with was one of a soulless place. Surely if you build a city around the primary basis of outspending and outflaunting your peers, the elements of community, of sensitivity in design, and of good taste fly out of the window. What you are left with is an array of opulent displays – a miniature Venice is pretty to look at, but why should a European or American visitor fly over Venice to arrive here to admire it?
We spent our days wondering around the city itself and enjoying the Indian food in the dosa restaurants. The contrast when we indulged in the evenings by visiting a posh hotel complex and having a Thai banquet, or sharing a beer with our friends in what could easily be downtown London or NYC, was stark.
Two worlds co-exist in Dubai, but rarely meet, save for those such as the taxi drivers and chambermaids who serve the wealthy ex-pat and tourist sector. Even the residences of the foreign nationals resemble enclosed compounds, with long repetetive streets of cookie cutter houses, each indistinguishable from the next.
I don’t want to sound too negative about Dubai. There was plenty to like there, and we shared a number of good experiences. A jeep safari, shooting down the water slide at Wild Wadi at 80km/h, and some great Indian food are obvious highlights. But rather like observing Chelsea, it is clear that the powers that be are building, buying and demanding what they want immediately, and do not have the patience for a long-term plan to build a sustainably successful city. Like Chelsea, it is to many people’s tastes. Again like Chelsea, it is not to mine. Each to their own… vive la difference!
(Dec 2006)
